Today couldn’t have been much better conditions wise – sunny, relatively cool, a little wind at times but nothing too bad. Got to Bath nice and early, plenty of time to have a relaxed coffee, then a 3 mile warm-up (stopping to use the toilets on the course, thus avoiding the queues at the race village!), before getting to the start line and making sure I was in a good position. Marshals were very strict with letting people enter the correct pens which was good to see.

The plan was to race by feel, knowing 88:xx should be a given, 87:xx was about what I was realistically capable of, and 86:xx something to aim towards if I felt particularly good somehow. The start is always fast at Bath – a mad dash to the first tight corner, then a downhill towards the main two lap loop. I felt relaxed in the first mile despite the fast pace, and when we hit the flatter road I tried to get in to a rhythm.

However the undulating nature of the course made this difficult and I never quite settled in to something that felt right. I kept finding my pace drifting off, followed by a push to get the pace back up. Nonetheless my splits were averaging almost exactly 87 minute pace so I tried to keep myself honest and concentrated on not letting my effort slip as fatigue set in. The last few miles felt tough as my legs made sure I knew I had already done a lot of running this week, but after what felt like an endless slog up the final hill and a sprint as we rounded the corner on to the finish straight, I crossed the line in 87:01.

Reading the above it sounds a bit negative so don’t get me wrong overall I’m very pleased with the time, which I’m sure could have been solidly sub-87 on fresher legs. McMillan and Daniels both give a sub-3:05 marathon prediction from my HM time, so that’s a nice boost and confirmation 3:05 will definitely be my target at Brighton I think. Two more weeks of solid training till the taper…